Machine fob rolling puddle-balls ob other masses of trots in the



No. 1,890. PATENTED DEC. 10, 1840.

BURDEN. v I ROLLING PUDDLERS BALLS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON.

QFFICE? HENRY BURDEN, or TROY, ew YORK.

MACHINE FOE ROLLING BUBBLE-BALLS OR OTHER QF IRON IN THE AN FACT R or ION.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 1,890, dated December 10, 1840,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY BURDEN, of the cityof Troy, in the county of Itensselaer and State of New York, haveinvented an improvement in the process of manufacturing iron, whichimprovement consists in the employment of a new and useful machine forthe rolling of puddlers balls, or halls prepared in the puddlingfurnace, and of other similar masses of iron, by which rolling they aremore perfectly and rapidly prepared for the process of being drawn outinto bars by means of the rollers ordinarily employed for that purposeor under the tilt hammer.

My rolling machine dispenses with the shingling, or other methodsheretofore adopted of preparing the bloom for being drawn out into bars.

The puddlers ball is conveyed into my machine immediately from thepuddling furnace, and it is therein rolled down, and elongated betweentwo plane, or curved, surfaces, and made to assume a cylmdrical form; aprogressive motionbeing given to one, or both, of these surfaces duringthe time the mass of metal is between them, so as to cause the ball toroll over and over, separating from it a large portion of the cinder,and other foreign matter, reducing it in diameter, and finallydelivering it in a cylindrical form.

The machine, as I now construct it, consists of a cast-iron cylinder,which may be from four to siX feet in diameter, and three feet, more orless, wide; said cylinder being in part surrounded by a trough-like,stationary concave, sufliciently distant from it at one end to admit thepuddlers ball, and gradually approaching nearer and nearer to it, alongits whole length, until it arrives at the point at which the bloom isdelivered in a state ready for the subsequent operations of themanufacture.

To exemplify the principle upon which my machine operates, I will,before describing it more particularly in the form in which I now useit, show it in that in which my first essays were made, and which I haverepresented in Figure l, in the accompanying drawing. In this figure, A,represents a crank having a throw of four or five feet, and attached bya shackle bar to a wedgeformed piece of cast-iron, B, ofcorrespondingrlength, and of sufficient width for the formation of thebloom; the piece B, is supposed to be sustained, and to slide, againstthe stationary guide, or top piece, G, and above the bed piece D. If, inthe position represented, a puddlers ball E, be placed between B, and D,it will, by the revolution of the crank, be rolled over and over, willbe reduced in diameter, be brought into, and delivered in, a cylindricalform, as'shown by the end view of it at F. l

Figs. 2, 3, and 4, represent my machine in the form in which I'nowconstruct it, and in each of the figures the same letters of referenceare used to designate like parts. Fig. 2, is a side view, Fig. 3, afront view,- and Fig. 4, a diagram showing the relationship of thecylinder and concave toeach other. Gr, G, is the frame-work of themachine, which may be made of castiron. H, is a cylinder of cast-iron,whichis to revolve in said frame, and which may be from four to sixfeet, more or less, in diameter, and three feet, more or less, wide. Thesurface of this'cylinder may be even, or it may be furnished with prot-uberances on its periphery,-for' the purpose ofgiving a kneadingmotion to the particles of the mass which is rolled, should this bepreferred. I, is a curved, segmental trough of cast-iron which partiallysurrounds the cylinder, and which is firmly attached to the frame G, G.A ball of puddled iron J, is represented as entering the mouth of thistrough at I, I; the form given to the trough, or concave, at that part,being that of a semicircle at its upper portion, and having parallelsides near to the cylinder. The curved trough becomes wider andshallower throughout the circuit intended to be given to the ball,until, at its termination, or point of delivery, K, its back I, isparallel with the cylinder, while its sides, or flanches, I, I, are soshaped as to act upon and upset the ends of the bloom which isconsequently delivered in a cylindrical form, such as is represented atJ Fig. 1.

In the diagram, Fig. 4, the line H, represents the outline of thecylinder, the line I, I, I, that of the interior of the trough, in asection along its middle, showing how the ball J, must necessarily andprogressively be reduced in its diameter asseen at the middle J, anduntil, at J", it makes its escape in the form of a cylinder.

L, is the driving shaft of the machine,

which carries two pinions, one of which is shown at M, Fig. 2, meshinginto the cog wheel N, on one end of the cylinder; each end of thecylinder being similarly furnished with a cog wheel, as shown in Fig. 3;the second pinion, similar to M, is hidden by the other parts of themachine. 0, O, is the shaft of the cylinder I-I, supported upon properbearings.

In my establishment, the puddling furnace is situated several feet abovemy machine for rolling the balls, and they are, therefore, mostconveniently fed to the machine down an inclined plane represented bythe line P,

i Fig. 2. But in many, and probably in most,

situations, it will be more convenient to feed them in below, anddeliver them above, reversing the segmental trough for that purpose. Thesegment also may be made to surround nearly, or quite, three fourths ofthe cylinder, only allowing suiiicient space for the convenient entranceand delivery of the blooms. The cylinder may, if preferred, be

made to revolve horizontally, the only change required in this casewould be the turning the machine down on one side, and the adapting thedriving parts thereto.

It will be readily perceived, also, by the skillful machinist, that theprinciple upon which I proceed may be carried out under variousmodifications, of which I have given two examples, and these might beeasily multiphed, but thls I do not think necessary as I believe thatthose which have been given must suflice to show, in the clearestmanner, the nature of my invention, and to point out fully what I desireto have secured to me under Letters, Patent of the United States.

Having thus fully made known the nature of my said improvement, andexplained and exemplified the manner in which I construct the machineryfor carrying the same into operation, what I claim as constituting myinvention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- The preparing ofthe puddlers balls as they are delivered from the puddling furnace, orof other similar masses of iron, by causing them to pass between arevolving cylinder and a curved, segmental trough adapted thereto,constructed and operating substantially in the manner of that hereindescribed, and represented in F 2 and 3, of the accompanying drawings:or by causing the said balls to pass between vibrating, orreciprocating, tables, surfaces, or plates, of iron, in the mannerexemplified in Fig. 1, in the accompanying drawings, or betweenvibrating, or reciprocating, curved surfaces, operating upon the sameprinciple, and producing a like result by analogous means.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my name this eighteenth day ofAugust, in the year 1840.

H. BURDEN. Witnesses:

Tnos. P. Jones, GEORGE lVnsr.

